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Today we are watching…
1. Nordstrom (#nordstrm)
As the “retail apocalypse” deepens, fashion brand Nordstrom has resorted to clearing holiday season sales, keeping same-day deliveries cost-effective, and solving supply chain bottlenecks by using ant-inspired fulfillment systems. Ants are quite industrious, cleverly building organized stacks of resources to save time and space. Nordstrom is doing something similar with robots. They automatically pick out sold products and place them delicately on a conveyor belt for a human to scan. Innovative, sure, but only being in operation at one of nine fulfillment centers, will it be enough to scratch February’s earnings release? Nordstrom has seen a massive surge in online sales this Thanksgiving compared to the year prior. Food for thought!
2. Target (#target)
You have to pinch yourself to believe that Target’s stock is up 88% this year, especially as most investors aren’t batting an eyelid. Those are scary gains, but the market wants more, more, more! The big-box retailer’s stores span 40,000 square feet on average. For growth’s sake, that’s changing. Behind the company’s recent success has been small-factor stores of just 15,000 square feet. They may only be a third of the size of a typical store, but they’re cheaper and twice as productive, according to CEO Brian Cornell. This is downsizing that everyone can get behind, and Target’s gonna rock on by signing another small-factor store lease in New York’s Times Square. Targeting the Big Apple, things have never been better for the retailer!